By Diana Omueza
Mr Dumebi Kachikwu, a former presidential candidate of the Action Democratic Congress (ADC), has said that all the subsidy palliatives prescribed by the Federal Government are tokens in nature and cannot ameliorate the plights of Nigerians.
Kachikwu said this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said that N1billion was now just US$1.1million currently and would not make significant input in any industry or in starting any manufacturing.
“The Nigerian Custom Service alone takes about N10m per 40ft container. He prescribed N50,000 which is less than US$100 for nano businesses. Really?
“Mr President also mentioned that his administration would procure 3,000 CNG-powered buses but he probably doesn’t know that Nigeria has only 16 installed CNG skids and most of them are in the southern part of Nigeria.
“President Tinubu means well but there still remains a big difference between meaning well and doing well,” he said.
Kachikwu said that the President’s speech to the nation on Monday highlighted the need for a solid team behind the Presidency.
According to him, he devoted the first few paragraphs of his speech to those who have abused the subsidy scheme but yet failed to mention what his administration would do to ensure they are brought to justice.
“Deep rooted multi-dimensional corruption is an unquantifiable variable that distorts and disrupts every economic plan and policy. This might be the real meaning of the oft-used phrase: the Nigerian Factor.
“We must now go beyond text book economic theories and fashion out home-grown ideas and solutions that take into cognisance the reality of who we really are as a people,” he said. (NAN)
